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As stated in these comments on Would questions about peripherals asking in user perspective be on-topic?, these close reasons are currently not in the help page. Presumably that they are frequent closing reasons, I think we should simply put it into the page.

Questions about use are off-topic.

Questions on the use of electronic devices are off-topic as this site is intended specifically for questions on electronics design.

Questions about repair are off-topic.

Questions on the repair of consumer electronics, appliances, or other devices must involve specific troubleshooting steps and demonstrate a good understanding of the underlying design of the device being repaired. See also: Is asking on how to fix a faulty circuit on topic?

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    \$\begingroup\$ Definitely a fair point. I'll look and see what options are available. \$\endgroup\$
    – W5VO Mod
    Commented Aug 21, 2017 at 14:43
  • \$\begingroup\$ Which help page? \$\endgroup\$
    – Voltage Spike Mod
    Commented Aug 22, 2017 at 16:17
  • \$\begingroup\$ @laptop2d help center \$\endgroup\$
    – Ooker
    Commented Aug 22, 2017 at 17:50
  • \$\begingroup\$ Should also put a homework disclaimer on there, if there is changes made to the page. \$\endgroup\$
    – Voltage Spike Mod
    Commented Aug 22, 2017 at 18:07
  • 3
    \$\begingroup\$ Questions about repair ARE NOT OFF TOPIC. \$\endgroup\$
    – Passerby
    Commented Aug 23, 2017 at 5:25
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Passerby can you link me to the question discussing specifically about repairing? \$\endgroup\$
    – Ooker
    Commented Aug 23, 2017 at 6:18
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Passerby I'm just focusing on the fact that our help documentation does not clearly convey the scope of the site. I'm not looking to reopen or change policy - the repair comments are from the ignorance of the OP. \$\endgroup\$
    – W5VO Mod
    Commented Aug 23, 2017 at 13:25

2 Answers 2

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In the "Don't ask about section" I would put a bullet point along the lines of:

  • Homework questions unless you post an good faith attempt at a solution, with a specific question of your problem.

Source: How do I ask and answer homework questions?

  • Questions on the repair of consumer electronics, appliances, or other devices unless you can demonstrate a good understanding of the underlying design of the device being repaired.

This would be to reflect the moderation system's stance on repair questions, they are OK but if you have no knowledge of electronics and/or repair they are not.

It might also be wise add something to clarify identify component questions, as the consensus is posting is OK with conditions:

  • questions that ask to identify components must include a good picture and measurements of the dimensions of the component and/or a clarification of the markings of the part.
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A lot of the text in the help page is canned text used for every site in the StackExchange network. I'll highlight the text blocks that we can change that are relevant to this discussion.

Tour

Intoduction Text

Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for electronics and electrical engineering professionals, students, and enthusiasts. It's built and run by you as part of the Stack Exchange network of Q&A sites. With your help, we're working together to build a library of detailed answers to every question about electronics design.

Ask About:

  • a specific electronics design problem
  • the theory and simulation of electromagnetic forces
  • a communication scheme
  • the writing of firmware for bare-metal or RTOS applications

Don't Ask About:

  • Shopping or buying recommendations
  • Consumer electronics such as media players, cell phones or smart phones, except when designing these products or modifying their electronics for other uses
  • Programming software for a PC
  • Anything else not directly related to electronics design
  • Questions that are primarily opinion-based
  • Questions with too many possible answers or that would require an extremely long answer

Help Center

There is a text box currently above the links in the help center that is unused. I'm not sure that this is the right place for on/off topic text, but I didn't know it was there before. I've taken a screenshot to show what I'm talking about.

enter image description here

Asking

The entire contents of this page are editable.

I believe we can focus on the lists in the tour for fine tuning, and be a bit more explicit in the "asking" section.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ How about merging the last three bullets in the Don't Ask About box? For any long time user of Stank Exchange, those are pretty trivial. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ooker
    Commented Aug 23, 2017 at 18:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Ooker the last three points are not the same, besides this page is for beginners \$\endgroup\$
    – Voltage Spike Mod
    Commented Aug 24, 2017 at 22:25
  • \$\begingroup\$ @laptop2d yes their meanings are not the same. But aren't they universal to any page, and don't contain much keywords admit electronics? By merging them into one we make the list two bullets shorter, helping the beginners less overwhelmed? \$\endgroup\$
    – Ooker
    Commented Aug 25, 2017 at 5:16
  • \$\begingroup\$ No, they each correspond to reasons questions get closed in the moderation system, they are distinct. \$\endgroup\$
    – Voltage Spike Mod
    Commented Aug 25, 2017 at 5:31
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Ooker they are the same for most SE sites, but what if a new user is landing exactly on EE.SE, he should get all the guidance a new user needs. And being detailed and precise often helps to reduce discussions around the rules. \$\endgroup\$
    – Arsenal
    Commented Aug 25, 2017 at 7:33

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